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New PeerNet Password Solution Equals Cost Savings, Quality and Time Improvement

Man participating in a peer review

Scientists are busy people, so one way to help reviewers focus on evaluating their assigned materials is to find opportunities to reduce demands on their time and attention.

PeerNet recently improved its ease-of-use by rolling out the ability for reviewers—and all users, in fact—to create personal passwords. Thanks to this change, ORAU is making it easier and faster for users to access the system.

The old approach carried significant costs, including the labor required for processing the pass code and the cost of shipping the pass code.

Today, PeerNet users receive a simple passcode via email, and then use the code to access the system where they can create their own personal password. While the new, user-created passwords must comply with cyber security requirements, this personalization increases the likelihood that users will remember their password; thus reducing the need for assistance.

In the past, the randomly generated passcodes did not have meaning to users and were somewhere between difficult and impossible to remember. As a result, significant user support was frequently required to help our users successfully access the system—another costly aspect of the previous process.

And best of all, the cost of shipping passcodes to users has been completely eliminated.

Success Stories

The State of ORAU’s PeerNet—Today and Tomorrow

PeerNet screenshot

PeerNet is a custom-built, Web-based computer application and database used by Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ (ORAU) peer review program to manage, conduct and report results of peer review activities conducted on behalf of our customers.

The system provides documents to reviewers for their evaluation and stores the reviewers’ evaluation input. Then PeerNet compiles the input, summarizes the scores and provides extensive reporting of the evaluation results.

PeerNet has a lengthy history that began in 2000. Originally designed to meet the specific peer review needs and methodologies of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the Web-based system allows reviewers to work on their peer review evaluations at times and locations most convenient to them—24/7 availability with less than a one percent unscheduled downtime rate.

From the beginning, ORAU has been responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the system. But one of the challenges the team has faced with regard to PeerNet has been matching the evolution of the system’s capabilities with the evolving needs of a growing customer base. PeerNet’s progression has involved a mix of obvious and subtle changes with the end goal being a more flexible and more capable peer review information system.

PeerNet usability improvements are ongoing. Through auto generated passwords, Section 508 compliance, various Web browser compatibilities and user friendly interfaces, PeerNet continues to remain a versatile and vital component of peer reviews, thus making a great tool even better.

Today, PeerNet has the ability to create reviews with both numeric and text entries from reviewers, as well as the ability to assign weights to multiple numeric response questions. The system can also divide large reviews into smaller, more manageable subgroups or panels, which can help customers get more meaningful results that better support their funding decision processes.

Over time, the addition of new report offerings has helped to support efficient operation of the reviews and has enhanced the information available to customers at the end of the review process.

More Peer Review Success Stories | Scientific Peer Review home

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